India Roots For Dipa Karmakar
Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar will take part in the vault finals of the Rio Olympics on Sunday.
Highlights
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Dipa Karmakar will take part in the artistic gymnastics vault final
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She is the first Indian woman gymnast to participate at the Olympic Games
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She won bronze medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games
India's northeast may once again provide a moment of pride as Dipa Karmakar from Tripura in the north east competes in the gymnastics finals at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told NDTV in an exclusive interview: "A girl who is from a small state, small and tiny, is beautiful. Our Dipa has proved it. She will not miss any chance to prove it further."
With the chief minister describing Dipa's feat in an eloquent manner, perhaps it is the produnova effect that has made her a household name these days.
Today Dipa is the toast of the nation as she is one of the five women in the world to have completed the produnova vault successfully. The vault is one of the most dangerous and risky and is named after Yelena Produnova of Russia, the first woman to complete the vault successfully.
Dipa started gymnastics at the age of eight in Agartala at a time when there were no proper facilities to practice her skills. She still managed to continue and achieve, winning bronze medals in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
Gymnastics coach Rathindra Roy says she had access to proper infrastructure only after 2010 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal. It's her grit and determination that has got her this far, people who've known her, say.
"She took a lot of interest in her practice and she was very sincere since childhood," Ray told NDTV.
Dipa's father, Dulal Karmakar, who was a weightlifter himself, is a proud man today. He is happy his daughter is on the cusp of creating history but also anxious about how his daughter will perform in the finals on Sunday.
When asked if he was a little tense, Karmakar said, "As the final draws near, we are very tensed."
Young gymnasts in Tripura like Abhishek Sinha point out how difficult it is to be like Dipa 'didi'. Dipa didi is what children who are training in gymnastics fondly call her.
Sinha, a gold medallist at the National School Games told NDTV, "To do difficult moves we need a rubber pit. If we have that, only then we can move forward, do difficult moves and perhaps win medals for the country." But all these children want to emulate Dipa Karmakar's success and achieve Olympic glory.
As Dipa is just one solid performance away from an Olympic medal, a billion Indians hope she wins a medal. Tripura hopes she fulfils their wish and does them proud.